US airstrike in Kunduz, possibility of major tragedy

US forces have reportedly bombed a school in the Khwaja Mashhad area of Kunduz city Saturday morning, lawmakers and education officials said.

According to them, the airstrike was conducted on the school early in the morning before the start of its regular operation hours, adding that if it had happened during the official hours, a major catastrophe would have happened as there are about 8,000 students studying there. The attack has destroyed some homes and shops.

The raid well determines the precision of US airstrikes in Afghanistan. When American troops target a school without a clear reason despite their advanced technology they use to control the world, how the people will expect the continuation of such attacks can help improve the security situation. This and other similar attacks, which government officials unfortunately mostly try to hide, give the militants new opportunities to recruit more and more people other than weakening them.

Such attacks on public places and civilian targets are a key driver of the Afghan conflict. In most cases, justice is not delivered to families of the victims of such raids, which mostly leaves them vulnerable to fall prey to the propaganda of insurgents, encouraging them to take up weapons against the government. Since the bereaved people are unable to target Americans as the main culprits of these incidents, they fight against Afghan government, and wreak vengeance on their fellow Afghans, whose victims are solely Afghans on both sides.

Given the sensitivity of the issue, government negligence may have dangerous consequences, including the overthrow of the current government. The continuation of US attacks on civilian targets means the strengthening of the ranks of militants. The government should not downplay the issue, and its leaders must give up compromising the blood of their people for their stay in power, and urge Americans to put an end to attacks on civilian targets. Continued government indifference towards the issue can be greeted with a strong response from the nation, which will be difficult for the embattled National Unity Government to contain.

One factor of the Afghan conflict is the Afghan government's failure to maintain a balance in its foreign policy. The imbalanced foreign policies of governments have paved the ground for Afghanistan to turn into a battlefield of proxy wars.